


climbing to the light

by orphan_account



Category: Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Schönberg/Boublil, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Road Trip, Bars and Pubs, British English, Chronic Illness, Deaf Character, Everybody Lives, F/F, F/M, Genderfluid Character, Holidays, M/M, Medication, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Students, Trans Character, a subtle and somewhat obscure pun, tw: scrumpy, valjean is a psychotherapist and javert is one as well but who still likes freud
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-07-12 14:37:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7109527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Enjolras isn't quite sure how this happened, but they're all going on a road trip this summer - that is, their little gang from the disabled and mentally ill students' society, in an ancient minibus and a Robin Reliant. </p><p>  If they make it further than a mile they'll be doing well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	climbing to the light

**Author's Note:**

> everyone in this fic is mentally ill as is the author. 
> 
> note: I only have BPD and bipolar (and Ehlers Danlos) myself, but all other illnesses are being researched from the Mind charity page and their stories there. Things about autism are taken mostly from the National Autistic Society, deafness and HoH taken from Royal Association of Deaf People, and brain tumour stuff is from Cancer Research UK. 
> 
>  
> 
> the fic is set in england as I'm english and it'd just be easier to set it here sorry i'm lazy. the drive they're going to is roughly from Kent to Cornwall via lots of places, hopefully.
> 
>  
> 
> NOTE: this fic is being abandoned for the time being. can't do anything right. enjolras has classic EDS the same as me

“You’re joking,” said Combeferre, pushing his glasses up his nose and then continuing to sign. “That might just be the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard, and I was there the first time you had a spliff and talked about the river-like nature of your thoughts, and then ate the entire contents of the freezer drawer.” He took a sip from his pint, and leaned sideways in his chair far enough that his knee bumped Courfeyrac’s.

 Courfeyrac shrugged. “All we think is that it’d be nice to do something, to mark the occasion. It’s not that big a deal, really, and Grantaire will take moral responsibility for the evening – “

Grantaire nodded. “Yep, it’s an important job, and speaking of moral relativity, I think you can’t talk, Combeferre. I mean, don’t take this the wrong way, but I’ve seen you punch a fifteen-year-old, and to be honest that just looks bad.” He took a long draught from his pint.

“He was fifteen,” said Enjolras. “The fifteen-year-old he punched was me, and it ended up as the most popular Youtube video in Japan that year. Look, Courfeyrac, I’m overjoyed that it’s your birthday, but really we can’t go on a road trip in that minibus. We can’t all fit, Joly gets car sick, Éponine will only let us play Marina and the Diamonds – “

“Oi,” said Éponine, throwing the foil she’d picked off her cider bottle at his head, where it caught in his curls. “She is glorious, and anyway I’ll be playing Lorde as well. Even _Royals_ , despite the fact that it makes Enjolras want to sing _Solidarity Forever_. If we must, we can have some Manic Street Preachers – “ Behind him, Grantaire sent up a silent, sarcastic prayer.

“Alright,” chimed in Bahorel, sitting next to the flowerbed and leaning towards Feuilly as if drawn there by a magnet. “We can work on a playlist later. Joly, Musichetta and Bossuet can go in their clown car – Joly, you don’t get sick there, correct?”

“Yeah,” said Joly. “It’s to do with ley lines, Jehan says.”

“Stop making me sound like even more of a stereotype than I am,” Jehan said, downing their White Russian. “It’s nothing to do with ley lines – “

“We have to do some sort of _important_ drive,” Courfeyrac went, slipping an arm round Jehan’s shoulders to give them his jacket. “It’s my fucking _birthday_ , which means you all have to stop interrupting – “

“Dream on,” Cosette told him, and stood up, skirt floating behind her. Marius watched her like she had hung the stars that shone over their heads; the moon was high in the sky and glowing and comforting, and almost missed his mouth with his next drink. “I’m getting some crisps – does anyone want anything?”

 Bossuet stopped playing with Joly’s hair for long enough to half-stand, half-crash into the table. “We should follow the route of the Tour de France!” he said, and then righted the ashtray which had scattered its contents over him and Musichetta. “Oh, and ready salted, please!”

 “First of all,” Grantaire says, “We’re far too broke for that. We should stay in _England._ Second, it goes over mountains, which sounds like lots of effort, and third – just a resounding _no_ , I think.” He finished his pint, and pretended he wasn’t hoping that Enjolras was watching him.

 “Well,” Enjolras said, “we could just look on the map and pick a town and head there?” He looked at a spot just above Grantaire’s head, and wished for the first time in weeks that he had a cigarette to occupy his fingers and his mouth from the thoughts he kept locked away.

Cosette came back with two pints, and some crisps held in her teeth. She slid one pint across to Grantaire, and downed a third of hers in one sip.

 “I’ve always wanted to explore England,” said Feuilly. “I’ve never really left here, there was never the money. We could go to Stonehenge, maybe. We could stay in Enjolras’s parents’ ridiculously ridiculous wine villa thing – “

“That’s in Surrey,” Enjolras said, and rubbed the back of his head with his hand. “But actually, not been home in a while. I still have a key, and they’re summering in Monte Carlo like stereotypes – “

“You can tell you’re posh,” Éponine told him, “because you use seasons as a verb. So there’s alcohol, at this wine villa thing?”

“Of course,” Courfeyrac said. “First time I got drunk was in the hills behind the house. I was pissed as a newt, green to the gills – “

“Newts don’t have gills,” said Cosette. “Not as an adult, and unless you were as drunk as a newt larva – “

“To be fair, he probably was,” muttered Bahorel, reaching into his pocket for a cigarette. “Oh, does anyone mind if I smoke? Enjolras, I can wait – “

“Please,” Enjolras said. “Please smoke, and let me sit here and breathe it in. I’m sure it’s much healthier over on the straight edge table – “ at this, Marius, Joly and Musichetta beamed – “but well, it’s been a long night. And yes, there’s alcohol there. Thing is, is that we’ll be going during Ramadan. I assume we’re going soonish, because it’d be a shame to waste this summer, and Grantaire and Bahorel have their retakes in August – “

“Nope,” broke in Bahorel. “Dropped out completely. Or, more technically, taken a leave of absence. I’ll be staying in an extra semester, if I go back – and Grantaire’s aren’t retakes, remember?”

Grantaire waved a hand, and took a long drink, licking away the foam that covered his lips. “It’s no big deal, guys. But yeah, late August, but I’m free up until them. Apart from revision, of course – “

“Pub next week then?” Courfeyrac called to him, and Grantaire stuck his tongue out at him.

“This lot,” Musichetta said to Bossuet, “need some sort of system by which they stop interrupting,” and he nodded and leaned until one hand was on Joly’s and one hand on her knee. “Oi, listen,” she said, a little louder. Combeferre, who had been talking to Cosette about newts, turned to her. “It’s Ramadan, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do fun stuff. I just maybe won’t drive, if I don’t feel up to it – at least for me, periods aren’t a problem!” and she cackled slightly, and took a sip of her orange juice. “Oh, and we’re definitely getting McDonalds at _iftar_ this year, agreed?”

“Only if,” Feuilly said, “you teach me your recipe for _semaiya kheer_ and you lend me that avocado pin badge – “

“Recipe’s a done deal,” she said, “but I’m afraid Cosette bought me that one, so you’ll have to take it up with her when she’s stopped gazing raptly into Marius’s eyes,” and she laughed, and Cosette looked up and smiled at Marius, who reached out and retrieved a jasmine flower from her short-cropped hair.

“Are they real?” demanded Jehan, who had been rolling a joint with expert precision. “I mean, I thought Courfeyrac and I were bad enough, and Musichetta does all the Instagram posts about her boys, but this is like, a fairytale type thing here. Love at first sight, except without the vodka-induced idiocy. _In amor veritas_ , which is probably wrong but I don’t know enough about Latin to dispute it – Grantaire?”

 Grantaire, rolling a cigarette, looked up. “ _Caecilius in horto sedet_ ,” he replied, and Combeferre snorted. “I could tell you about the fall of the Roman empire, or Macedonia, but translating into Latin’s not exactly my forte,” and he looked across at Enjolras. “Mind if I smoke?” he asked, quieter than he had been speaking, so that Enjolras had to strain to hear.

Enjolras cleared his throat. “Of course not. I forgot to ask – you deferred your exams?” and Grantaire looked at the group and shrugged.

“Might as well tell people, I suppose. Yeah, had an attack of the glums, so didn’t revise, and then had a fit of glee and a complete change of identity and ended up a tad unhinged. Standard stuff, really. But well, it was best for me. I did get lots of paintings done though, so maybe when I’m a famous artist you can add sources to my Wikipedia section about my emotional stability,” and he lit the cigarette.

 “You should have told someone,” Enjolras said, quietly. “And not your doctor, we’re your friends and none of us are neurotypical, anyway. We’d never judge – “

“Yeah but,” Grantaire said, speaking more loudly, “with the utmost respect, I have two very serious and lifelong conditions. I get that anxiety is horrendous and depression is awful and I’m so sorry for people who have to go through them, but like, at least they are more palatable than _personality disorders_.” He took an angry drag on his cigarette, and realised that his friends were staring.

 “Sorry guys. I didn't - I didn't mean that, I know it must be really hard for you,” he said, more quietly. “I just – it’s been a long term, you know? There’s nothing I want more than to relax with my favourite people in the world – which means Courfeyrac, Bahorel and Cosette are banned from driving if I’m awake,” and Enjolras laughed like he didn’t see the way Grantaire drank from his glass like a parched man in the desert.

 “Alright,” he said. “Looks like we’re going on a road trip – “

“Obviously, the car will break down and we’ll all end up stuck in the traffic outside London and there will be a fly in the car, and then Enjolras will lose his temper and park on some miserable grass verge until we all stop talking over one another and Combeferre will try to murder the Sat-Nav,” said Cosette, in one very long breath.

“And then Courfeyrac and Jehan will want to go and fight UKIP at some point, and Marius will drag us to Cornwall even though it’s the wrong way, and _somebody_ will forget to drink enough water,” added Bossuet. Musichetta elbowed him, and he sighed. “Fine, _I_ will forget, but executive dysfunction is rubbish, and I’ll probably read the map upside down again or something – “

“Honestly,” said Joly. “I’ll be in charge of that. And then Grantaire will get distracted by like, the sad life and times of Rimbaud and he and Jehan will get all melancholy when we leave them to find some decent bacon, and we’ll come back to some bastardised Scrabble poetry – “

 “Enough talking,” said Courfeyrac. “We’re doing this. Our shitty little mongrel group. Everyone better remember their medications.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Enjolras has obsessive-compulsive personality disorder and is a recovered anorexic. He's rich, gay, and autistic. He also has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which causes flexible joints and can have heart complications but as of yet, he doesn't seem to have heart problems. He's a politics student. His parents pay his rent but won't actually spend time with him. EDIT: i'm sorry for fucking this up. enjolras has eds classic type and it;s shitty and his life sucks and he's in constant pain and he experiences: Fragile skin which can split easily with minimal trauma. Stretchy skin, often very stretchy!  
> Joint hypermobility, which may cause the joints to slip out of position resulting in dislocations or subluxations, and may be associated with chronic joint pain. Easy bruising, which may lead to permanent discolouration and is often visible on the shins.  
> Fragile and extensible tissues can also result in hernias, prolapse and cervical insufficiency.
> 
> done with this. sorry for not being good enough. off to take my codeine. 
> 
> Grantaire has borderline personality disorder, and a drinking problem. He's fairly poor, bisexual, and he is studying classics and ancient civilisations. He gets the full amount of loan plus a bursary from the government; he met Feuilly when both going to complain that the meal ticket they were given didn't include alcohol. 
> 
> Combeferre has obsessive-compulsive disorder (intrusive thoughts focused on checking). He's probably straight but hasn't really thought about it too much. He's on medication (Prozac) and he's rich and he shouldn't really drink, but he has the odd pint. He is partially deaf in one ear, and fluent in British sign language. He has a hearing aid, and lip-reads. He's studying medicine.
> 
> Courfeyrac has ADHD. He's rich as well, pansexual, and on medication which helps him to focus. He's studying international relations with politics, and he is going out with Jehan. His parents pay his rent for him. 
> 
> Jehan is genderfluid; they are studying English Lit and they're from Yorkshire. They are schizoaffective. They're bisexual and ethnically (but not religiously) Jewish.
> 
> Bossuet has depression, but recently had his first hypomanic episode and is for waiting a diagnosis of bipolar II. He is bisexual and not that well-off; he has a brain tumour, which was discovered after he'd fallen down the stairs whilst drunk and his his head. It's benign, and is possibly thought to be the reason for his cluminess, but Musichetta and Joly doubt this. He is studying law. 
> 
> Joly has health-related OCD. Bossuet's tumour terrifies him and is making his compulsions and intrusive thoughts even worse; he is bisexual and a medical student. He wants to be a psychiatrist. He was raised Catholic; his intrusive thoughts started with religion. 
> 
> Musichetta is a trans Muslim girl. She is studying psychology, and she has depression, anxiety, and an eating disorder not otherwise specified. She's bisexual and her father is Palestinian, her mother is Welsh. She speaks Arabic, English and a little Welsh, and she met Marius whilst investigating the dictionaries in the library. 
> 
> Marius is asexual and has generalised anxiety disorder; he is Cornish. He's studying Russian Literature and keeping up his French and Spanish at the same time. He has panic attacks quite a lot, but his friends know how to help him here. He's a good but nervous driver. 
> 
> Bahorel is a recovering bulimic and also has depression. He is getting better but it's a slow process. He is also studying law, sort of. He's partially sighted and an excellent dancer. 
> 
> Cosette is also a dancer. She has PTSD and she studies Engineering, but is teaching herself coding as well. She is from London. 
> 
> Feuilly has depression and is poor. He works in the bar they frequent, but often joins them after his shifts. He is attending lectures with a stolen ID card when not working, and he's been homeless before, which is where he met Éponine. 
> 
> Éponine has histrionic personality disorder and PTSD. She is sometimes a student, when her loan gets sorted; she gets the full amount, and a bursary. She has panic attacks.


End file.
